All new but still the same
by Arwen Summers
Summary: My take on Season 7 or how it could be. Everybody is dealing with the changes that happened in the end of season 6. I will deal with all the characters of the show and their problems. This is no pure shipper fic, but will include all canon pairnings such
1. A hot summer's day

TITLE:  All new but still the same Part 1 

SPOILERS: All of season 6

TIMELINE: Set 2 months after "Grave"

SUMMARY: It's been a long hot summer since Willow tried to destroy the world. Dawn has been trained by Giles and now helps her sister slaying, and Spike returns to Sunnydale with a surprise. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the first chapter of many. The story isn't finished yet and will probably take some time until it is. Basically it is what I imagine or wish to happen in Season 7 and will deal with ALL the characters and pairings, not just with one. 

FEEDBACK: Oh yes please, criticism welcomed too if it's no bashing. Rosycheeks80@yahoo.de or review.

DISCLAIMER: I own my brain and this idea, and that's about it. Everything else belongs to God… ehm, Joss. 

Chapter 1 

The loud ringing of the bell above the door snapped Anya out of the daydream she'd been having to distract herself from the unbearable boredom that was working in the magic shop these days. It had been a long, quiet and remarkably hot summer with a noticeable lack of revenues, which Anya found rather unpleasant. As addition to the gain less work came a feeling of uselessness that Anya had experienced ever since Mr. Giles had decided to stay in Sunnydale until things cleared up for everybody. With the end of the world prevented once again – although this time surprisingly not by the Slayer but by Xander – everybody had to deal with their own little apocalypses. Willow hadn't been the same ever since Warren had shot Tara; in fact nobody had been the same since then. 

"Hi," said Buffy who was being ignored ever since she had walked into the magic box a few minutes ago.

"Oh, hi Buffy," said Anya, her chin resting in her hand while she was leaning over the counter, looking obviously bored.

"Where are Giles and Dawn?" Buffy asked.

Anya sighed in the expectation of the useless effort she was going to make by opening her mouth to say "in the training room". 

Buffy retorted in the same way with a slight nod and walked to the training room at the back of the shop. Anya sighed again and started browsing in an old book without even reading a single line. Anya had noticed that Buffy and Dawn seemed to get along better than they used to. Something between them had changed the day Willow had almost destroyed the world, but then again how were things supposed to stay how they were? They never did. Whenever things went fine and people were happy something horrible had to happen that took all of their happiness away in an instant. So much had she learned in the 3 years she'd been human. In moments like this she wished she could just turn back the time and make Xander marry her, but that wish would never be granted to her unless someone else pronounced it, and things seemed like nobody was going to do her that favour anyway. 

She let out another deep sigh of frustration and boredom and started counting the pages of the book.

Buffy watched amazed as Giles and Dawn were going through some exercises in martial arts. Dawn's moves were quick and aggressive, her technique still a little shaky, but she was already trained enough to defend herself and even assist Buffy with slaying. Never would she have thought that her sister, her little Dawnie, would be able to fight like this, and it seemed like yesterday that she had been the clumsy annoying little girl that rather put herself and everybody else in trouble than helping to fight against the forces of darkness, side by side with her older sister. A weird but strangely familiar feeling formed inside Buffy's heart when she watched her sister, and suddenly she knew. It was pride. She was proud of the young woman her sister had become, proud of her for surviving all the misery she's had to go through in the past 2 years, and also proud of herself that she had started enjoying and even loving life again, and the main reason for that was the love she felt for the young girl that had just tripped while trying to attack the old scare crow in the training room.

"Ouch!" Dawn got up again and rubbed her backside. 

"Ouch my butt," she said, and both Buffy and Giles chuckled.

"Oh hey Buffy," said Dawn who hadn't noticed her sister watching her all the time. 

"Hi, everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything went fine until I did that roundhouse kick Giles wanted me to try." The brunette shot Giles an angry glare while she was still rubbing her sore bottom.

"What? I assumed you were aware of the extreme dangers like falling on your bum when you asked me to train you," he retorted with a grin, and Dawn laughed.

"Yeah, I should have known that." Her gaze travelled back to her sister.  "So, what's up?"

Buffy shrugged, her arms crossed in front of her chest, as she slowly walked towards the vaulting horse to lean against it.

"Nothing, just wanted to see how you guys are doing."

"We are fine, Buffy", answered Giles with a smile, "Dawn seems to be remarkably strong. She's pulling after her sister. "

"Well, the monks made her out of me, so I guess it's no surprise she's like that. Although I wonder from where she got being so annoying," Buffy smirked.

"Hach!" said Dawn with a hurt expression on her face.

"I was just kidding," Buffy quickly said.

"Yeah I know," her sister replied and smiled again. 

Dawn frowned slightly, pondering over something.

"So, does that mean I'm a slayer too?" she asked?

Giles took off his glasses to clean them and walked a few steps closer towards the two girls. 

"I highly doubt it. You may seem to have some extra strength that regular people don't have, and you also have your sister's fighting skills, or at least are developing them now, but being the slayer is something mystical. The Slayer's line is only passed on to one girl when the old slayer dies. Well, in this case we have two slayers because Buffy didn't die completely when the Master tried to kill her, but the slayer's line is not something that's inherited or can be reduplicated. We must assume that you just have her talents but not the special powers of a slayer."

Dawn frowned again as she tried to understand everything the watcher had said and nodded.   
"Yeah, I also don't have those extra super fast healing powers. Remember when I broke my arm? It took as long to heal as it would take any other person."

"See, I'm still the only chosen one," Buffy teased her sister, sticking out her tongue at her.

"Nope, there's also Faith, did you forget her?" the younger one smirked back at her.

Giles watched the two girls laughing and joking around, teasing each other and obviously being happy. Happy – something he hadn't thought Buffy would ever be again so easily, but there she was, happy about life and finally forming a great relationship with her sister. 

"Oh you think just because you're the slayer you can kick higher than I can, shortleg!" Dawn asked, pretending a threatening voice. 

"You betcha!" the blonde replied and started a playful tussle with her sister.

With a few swift moves Buffy had Dawn in her grip, preventing her from escaping, but the younger girl was able to free one of her hands.

"Ow Giles, she's pulling my hair! Is that what you taught her all day?" Buffy shouted, trying hard not to laugh.

"I let go if you let go?" Dawn offered.

"Okay," Buffy nodded, still not loosening her grip.

"Who'll start?" asked Dawn after nothing had happened. 

Buffy pondered. "How about we count to 3 and then both let go?"

"Deal!" said the younger one and they both started counting. "One, two, three."

They both landed sitting on the floor, panting from the efforts of the played fight. 

"You know I would have won if I had wanted to, right?" Buffy asked.

"Uh huh," Dawn agreed, "but you would have lost all your hair on the way."

Giles cleared his throat while putting his now clean glasses back on his nose. 

"I think we should finish our exercises for today?"

"Yep," said Dawn and got back up.

"Oh, and I wanted to ask if you're gonna have some ice cream with me," the blonde said.

"We won't take long, Buffy," Giles replied and Dawn nodded.

"Yeah, you can already go and I'll join you in 20 minutes or something."

"Fine. See ya later then." Buffy smiled and walked out of the training room.

"And now back to that kick you tried earlier," Giles said, going straight back to business. "Try to keep you balance on the other foot by shifting your weight a little."

"Okay, like this?" Dawn kicked very high into the empty air.

"Very good, and now with a little more power if you c… OW!"

"Oops, sorry, didn't mean to hit you."

Buffy walked past Anya who was now counting the coins in the cash register over and over again, obviously trying to do something against her boredom.

"Bye," said Buffy and opened the door, walking outside into the blinding sunlight. The thick, humid, and hot air almost made her faint after having cooled down in the shop with air conditioning. Buffy had to blink several times and pressed her eyelids together tightly until she could only see enough to watch her steps. A few minutes later her eyes had adjusted to the sunlight, but her skin was already damp with sweat. She couldn't remember a summer that hot ever. Maybe it was just her fading memory, but 105° Fahrenheit just seemed way too hot to bear it. The sunbeams were burning her skin, but even stronger was the burning in her throat, so dry that she most likely wouldn't even be able to get the words out to order a cool drink somewhere. 

Buffy strolled along the sidewalk as close to the walls of the buildings as possible. There was no shade though; the sun was shining from right above her and didn't give the houses the possibility to shelter the town's inhabitants from the burning sun.

As she walked past a grocery store she felt the cool air coming from inside and stood still for a few moments.  Although the air seemed to be even thicker under the shades of the store, the sun wasn't burning so hot anymore, and from time to time the electric doors opened and released a customer along with some cool air. Neither the streets nor the shop were very busy that day - most people seemed to hide in their air conditioned houses or offices – and so she had to wait a couple of minutes until the doors were opened again and brought her some relief from the heat. From the corner of her eyes she saw a man leaving the shop with two brown bags he was holding in front of him, hiding his face. He stood still for a moment, trying to put the bags in a better position, holding, almost hugging them in front of his chest.  He looked around to inspect his surrounding, and his gaze met Buffy.

The blonde girl's eyes widened in surprise and shock, as she couldn't prevent her jaw from dropping down. She blinked several times to make the image go away – just a trick the sun and heat were playing with her mind, a hallucination – but the man was still there, looking back at her with his blue eyes, a smile on his lips.

"Spike?" she half asked, half stated.

"Hello Buffy," he replied softly.

The first shock gone, Buffy sighed hardly noticeable as a feeling of anger formed inside her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, trying to sound as annoyed as possible.

"I was buying some things in t…."

"I mean back," she interrupted him, "In Sunnydale."

Spike just wanted to retort something as an elderly lady pushed him aside, walking into the store. Realising that he was blocking the entrance, Spike made a few steps towards Buffy.

"'Cause I wanted to come home," he replied softly, looking at her. Somehow his eyes seemed bluer and brighter than they used to, but Buffy quickly pushed that thought aside and went back to being annoyed.

"Why did you leave anyway, and where have you been?"

"I've been in Africa, to…" he didn't know where to begin and what to say.

"Africa? Nice!" she said with played interest and a sarcastic undertone. "Why didn't you stay there and get eaten by lions?"

He sighed deeply. "Buffy, look, I'm sorry I left so all of the sudden, but I had to get some things sorted out, I…." Again he wasn't able to tell his story when a woman wanted to get some apples from the table Buffy and Spike were standing at. He took her arm to lead her a few yards away from the store to the entrance of an office building where they could talk a little more privately. 

Her arms folded in front of her chest she glared up at him. Even angry as she was now she was the most beautiful being in the world for Spike.

"Buffy, there's something I wanted to tell you, and that's maybe the reason why I came back," he started while Buffy was drumming her foot impatiently.

He sighed again. "Buffy, I'm really sorry for what I did… almost did… This should never have happened, and I know there's no way to make it up to you again, but I'm really sorry."

For a second, Buffy's eyes seemed to glister with fury, but she still listened.

"God, I'm so sorry. I, I still love you Buffy." He eyed her, trying to find a hint of emotion, a hint that she'd maybe forgive him, but the expression on her face had frozen to stone. 

Suddenly, without a warning, she punched him straight in the face, hard and full of fury, which sent him flying down the stairs of the house entrance and landing on the hard stone ground of the pavement. 

It took a few moments until the stars in front of his eyes disappeared again. Rubbing his bleeding nose he sat up a bit, still shaky and dizzy.

"I never realised how hard your punches really were," he said, blinking against the blinding sun.

Standing in the shades of the entrance Buffy's jaw dropped as she realised what she was seeing. She looked at him in shock for quite a while until she could only stammer; "how?"

Spike got up slowly, losing balance immediately and Buffy went to help him. They both sat down on the stairs, and Spike couldn't stop looking at her while she was searching for a tissue in her handbag. 

"Here," she said, giving him the tissue so he could clean his bleeding nose. 

"It's a long story," he started. "After this night when…" he stopped as he noticed the hurt look on her face. "I felt so guilty. I hated myself for it, but I wasn't supposed to feel this way. I blamed it on the chip, thought it was that made me have feelings for you, even made me feel remorse for what I had done. I wanted to be like I was before those buggers caught me and implanted that chip in my brain. I had heard about this demon guy in Africa, so I went there, went through the trials and got what I had requested. Apparently that bloke didn't quite get what I had really wanted and gave me my soul back, and my humanity."

Buffy glared at him again with her hazel eyes. "You went there to get the chip removed, to become totally evil again?" she asked angrily.

Spike frowned a little. He didn't know how to explain it all to her.

"Not exactly, well yeah. It was what I thought I had wanted, but the demon seemed to know what I really wanted… or rather needed."

"Being human again?" she asked.

"Yeah."

Buffy smiled slightly. "I'm sorry I hit you." Spike's face lit up as he heard her words, and the hope she could forgive him was getting bigger.

"But you can't expect me to forget what happened. You come back and tell me you're human now and expect me I throw my arms around you and we live happily ever after? Who the hell do you think you are?" she asked angrily.

The hopes inside him were crushed as she said that and he looked down to his feet, hiding the disappointed and hurt look on his face. Soon the hurt turned into anger.

"It's not always just about you, Buffy," he said bitterly.

"Oh it isn't?" she asked ironically, "then why do you tell me all that, and why did you say you came back because you wanted to tell me?"

Spike sighed again, this time even deeper, trying to get the feeling of despair and the pain off his chest.

"I wanted to tell you I was sorry, yeah, but this time it's about me, Buffy. _I_ needed to say it. _I _needed to come back. I have a life again, everything is so different and complicated and _I _needed to clean up with my past, to get over everything and start from the beginning."

"It's not that easy," Buffy said. "You can't just forget what you have done, I can't forget it, human or not."

Spike just nodded sadly.

"And what do you expect me to do now?" Buffy asked, confused about the things he had said.

"Nothing." He replied simply. "I expect you to do nothing. It's up to you, but I needed to get this out."

"Fine," she said, not knowing what else there was to say.

"I should go now. I guess the ice cream I bought already melted." 

Buffy looked at the brown bags full of food. It was really weird seeing Spike shopping in a grocery store and sitting in the sun.

"Speaking of ice cream, Dawn and I are gonna meet at the parlour in a few." Buffy got up from the stairs and cleaned off her skirt, while Spike managed to get up too. He staggered a little, still feeling dizzy from both the punch and the heat. 

"Will you be alright?" Buffy asked a little worried, but Spike nodded. 

"Yeah, as soon as I can take a cold shower in the motel."

Buffy knitted her eyebrows. "You're staying in a motel? What about your crypt?"

Spike smirked slightly. "Well, I thought a crypt wasn't the best place for a man. And it's not like I have to hide from the sunlight or anything else anymore."

She nodded. "Okay, bye." With that she left him standing in the sun and walked towards the parlour at the end of the street.

Spike watched her until he lost her sight and picked up his bags. He just wanted to continue his way back to the motel as the bottoms of both bags suddenly couldn't carry the weight of their content anymore. All the food including the chocolate chip ice cream he loved so much landed on the ground in a puddle of coke, wine, vegetables and other things he had bought.

"Oh bloody hell!"


	2. A haunting night

Spike returned to Sunnydale and is now human. Dawn is being trained as something like a Slayer, and everybody else is suffering under the heat of an extremely hot and boring summer.

Hope you like the second part too!

And thanks a lot for the kind reviews, I'll try to update as soon as possible!

Chapter 2 

****

****

It was already dark when Buffy and Dawn got back home after having some ice cream and talking about Dawn's training session. Buffy had restrained herself from telling her sister anything about Spike's return. She wanted to wait until…. What was she waiting for anyway? She just hadn't known how to say it. "Spike's back and he's human now" just sounded way too blunt. Maybe she should just wait until… maybe she should just wait. 

She sighed faintly and opened the door of her house. 

"Hey slayer girls," said Xander when they entered the living room. 

"Hi," they replied.

"How was training?" he asked while switching off the TV.

"It was great. Giles taught me some new kicks and other stuff." Dawn slumped down on the couch beside Xander and stretched her arms, yawning. 

"How's Willow?" Buffy asked, standing in front of the couch.

Xander frowned a little and shifted in his seat. "She seems to do a little better, but I couldn't talk her into watching a movie with me or anything. She's just lying on her bed all the time."

Dawn knitted her eyebrows worriedly. 

"I'll check on her, see if I can distract her a bit and tell her something 'bout training and stuff," the brunette said and got up from the couch.

Buffy took her place and stared into the air with a frown on her face.

"It's very hard for her," Xander started. "She doesn't even wanna talk about Tara, the good memories, you know? She just can't stop grieving and crying, and it's breaking my heart to see her like this."

"Takes time," Buffy merely whispered. 

"Yeah, but it's already been two months, Buff."

"I know, but when…" she stopped, not wanting old memories to stir, but couldn't prevent it. "When I killed Angel I couldn't talk about it either, I just couldn't."

Xander nodded. "I know."

For a few moments they both remained silent, deeply in thoughts.

"And I think she still can't deal with the fact that she killed Warren. I don't wanna know how that must feel, having killed someone and knowing it was wrong."

"She'll have to deal with it," Buffy replied. "And one day she will. She's strong, she's always been."

"Uh-huh, strong enough to deal with her loss like everybody and not going all vengeancy against the murderer of the love of her life," Xander said sarcastically and Buffy shot him an angry glare.

"Are you blaming her?"

Xander sighed. "No, I'm not. I'm just saying she's not all that strong, Buff. She didn't know another way out than taking revenge on Warren after what he did, and now she regrets it, and I really don't know how she can be strong enough to deal with it all. I'm really worried about her."

"But you said she was doing better?" Buffy asked. "And she is, it's just not going very quickly."

"Oh yeah, she's doing better. She doesn't cry non-stop anymore, she's eating and even sometimes leaving her room or the house to spend some time with us. It looks like she's really getting along, but deep down inside it's destroying her, and you know that as well as I do."

"And what do you suggest we'd do against that?" Buffy asked helplessly.

"If I only knew. I guess we've to be there for her, show her that we need and love her, but it just doesn't seem to be enough." Xander shook his dead in frustration. 

"I lost my mom last year," Buffy said, "and I lost Angel and so many others. I died and was torn out of heaven. I've been through so much too, and I know these things are hard and horrible and cruel, but I had to deal with them, and I am. Sooner or later she will too."

"I hope you're right, Buff."

"I hope so too," they heard Dawn from the hall.

"How is she?" asked Buffy.

"She wanted to sleep, but she seemed pretty devastated," the younger girl replied and sat down in the armchair next to the sofa. 

"I miss Tara. I miss her so much. It must be so much worse for Willow."

"I'm still worrying more about the things she's done though," Xander said. 

"Yeah, that too," Dawn agreed. "She told me at least a thousand times how sorry she was for the things she had said to me and almost done to me. The thing is she doesn't need to say it. I've forgiven her a long time ago."

"Yeah, she wasn't herself then," Buffy said.

"But still she feels so bad about it. It's been almost like when a vampire loses its soul, but now she's got it back. It must feel so horrible remembering all the bad things she did. Poor Willow."

Buffy frowned deeply, pondering over something.

"Imagine it. You're human and remember that you went totally evil, murdered a man and a warlock, almost killed your friends too…"

Buffy knitted her eyebrows and frowned even deeper.

"Man, I hate to admit it, but I start realising how Angel must have felt after he got his soul back," Xander said. 

"I don't wanna know what she'd do without us. I mean it doesn't even seem to be enough when we're telling her that it wasn't her fault all the time, what would she do if she was all alone and had to deal with it alone?" Dawn asked sadly.

Buffy had a seriously worried expression on her face now.

"I-I gotta go," she said and got up from the couch.

Both Xander and Dawn eyed her puzzled. 

"Slaying," she quickly explained.

"Oh okay, can I come with you?" Dawn asked.

"Why don't you get some rest? You already trained enough today. And besides, poor Xander is here all alone and could use some company." _That was easy, _Buffy thought – easier than saying it was too dangerous or that she needed some time by herself.

Dawn looked a little disappointed but nodded. "Okay, you're right. Take care then."

"I will, bye." With that she left and went out into the hot summer's night.

Dawn and Xander shot each other confused looks. 

"Don't ask, she's been kinda weird and absent all evening," Dawn answered Xander's unasked question. 

"Yeah, something seems to bother her." He agreed.

"Yeah, but she reacted really weird just now, didn't she? Almost as if she had seen a…"

"Ghost!" they heard Willow who was rushing down the stairs.

Xander and Dawn got up immediately and went to her. "What happened?" Dawn asked.

"A…a … a ghost… Tara… she's here," the redhead said though her nervous and excited gasps, looking around nervously, almost frantic.

"Willow, calm down." Xander put his hands on her shoulder, but she shook him off. 

"No, she's here. She just walked down the stairs. Didn't you see her? Tara? Where are you? Tara, baby?" Willow called desperately. 

"Willow, here is no ghost," Dawn said calmly and took her hand while Xander was holding the other, leading her to the sofa in the living room.

"It was a dream," said Xander, caressing her hand to still her. 

"No!" she cried. "You don't understand. She was really here! She woke me up and then walked downstairs. It was really her, I swear!" Willow started sobbing while her heart was beating so loudly that both Dawn and Xander could hear it. She tried to get up from the couch again, but Xander still held her hand.

"Sometimes we see things we wanna see," her best friend said.

"Xander, I'm not making this up," Willow replied, her voice a little stronger now. "It was really her. I felt it. I'd always feel if it was her or just some trick my mind was playing on me."

"Are you sure?" Dawn asked, now really considering it could be true.

"Yes I am sure," Willow cried, tears streaming down her face and her heart still beating fast. 

Realising it was no use in trying to convince her that it had just been a dream or hallucination, Xander nodded.

"Well, maybe it was her. We can look into it tomorrow and ask Giles to do some indicator spell or whatever. We'll find out, but until then you should go back to bed and get some sleep."

"What if she comes back?" the redhead asked still in tears.

"We'll call you if we see something," Dawn suggested. "And you'll call us if you see her again."

"But what if she wants me to find her? She walked down here. Maybe I have to look for her, maybe she wants to show me something."

"If it was really her and she wants you to find her, she'll come to you," Xander said and helped Willow getting up from the couch. 

"But now you have to sleep."

"Okay." Willow suppressed a sob and allowed Xander to lead her back to her room.

Dawn stayed on the couch, eyeing the room suspiciously. What if Willow had been right? What if Tara really came back as a ghost and wanted to tell them something? Whatever it was, Dawn would find out. 


	3. A growl in the dark

_Sorry for the late update, but I've been terribly busy with work and other stuff.  Thanks for the kind reviews, I'm glad you like this so far._ Chapter 3 

****

Despite the darkness the air was still hot and sweltering. Buffy's skin was damp with sweat as she walked over the graveyard. Although she felt kind of useless taking a walk in the night she was glad that the weather was even too hot for vampires. They most likely were hiding in their cool crypts, away from the thick air and the thousands of storm bugs that indicated that it would rain soon. Or at least it should, but somehow Buffy doubted they'd get any relief from the merciless heat.

This night was quite, too quiet for her taste. So quiet that she couldn't help but letting her thoughts circle around the events of the past couple of months and around a certain blond vampire… ex-vampire. 

Unknowingly she had walked to his crypt, and now she stood there, not knowing what led her here and why. She shrugged and opened the door of the crypt. She didn't expect Spike to be there after he had told her he was staying in a motel, but she didn't have anything better to do and could try to cool off in the stone crypt for a while.

"Hi there," said a familiar voice and Buffy looked right into a friendly face covered in skin-folds and framed by floppy ears. 

"Hi," she replied, eyeing the large bucket of hot wings Clem was holding in front of him, permanently stuffing one of the crispy poultry pieces in his mouth.

"Want some?" he offered, noticing where she was looking at.

"No thanks, I've had a lot of ice cream this evening."

"Wanna sit down and play some cards?" he asked casually and Buffy raised her eyebrows at him.

"Sorry, but I don't have any kittens with me," she half-joked.

"Oh that's okay, we could play for wings."

"Nah, another time maybe."

Clem walked to the big armchair and the TV. "Take a seat," he offered.

Buffy considered rejecting the offer, but then again she'd already turned down two of them and didn't want to be impolite.

"What can I do for you?" Clem asked, standing in front of Buffy while she sat down.

"Oh nothing. I was just patrolling and thought I'd step by."

Clem eyed her, trying to read her mind.

"He's not here," he simply said.

"Huh?" Buffy was surprised that her thoughts had been that obvious to Clem.

"He told me he met you today," Clem explained.

"Oh, well I wasn't…"

"I know. You know he's staying in the motel."

Buffy sighed faintly. "I just… Well I… I was a little worried about him," she admitted.

"I guess he'll be glad to hear that."

"No!" Buffy exclaimed quickly. "I mean, I don't want him to think that I care about him that way. He mustn't think there's even the slightest chance with me anymore."

Clem nodded a little sadly.

"But I was worried about him," Buffy added, now softer. "I'm sure he went through a lot, being human now again and knowing what he has done. It must be hard for him."

"It is." Clem leaned against the nearby wall and took another bite of a chicken wing. "You have no idea how hard it is for him. He says he's alright, but deep down inside I know he's not. He's a good guy, he's kinda always been…"

Buffy snorted, rolling her eyes, but Clem just ignored it.

"I know he wasn't always nice, and he knows that too, that's what bugs him so much."

"You think he will be alright?" Buffy asked.

Clem sighed but then nodded. "Yeah, sooner or later he'll be, but it could be sooner if he had some people that were there for him and supported him." Clem gave Buffy a broad hint.

"I dunno," Buffy's voice was low as she stared into the air. "He's hurt me a lot, even humiliated me. I know things are different now, but that's not something I can forgive so easily… and god, I don't know why I'm even talking about this with you."

Clem smiled reassuringly. "Well maybe because it's good talking about stuff that bothers us?"

"Whatever, I should go now," Buffy said and got up from her seat, cleaning her skirt off of the crumbs of chips and other food that were lying on the armchair. 

"Come back soon!" Clem called after her, waving his fold-covered arm. "Bye bye!"

"Bye," Buffy replied and closed the door of the crypt behind her.

"At least she's worrying," Clem whispered looking at the figure that climbed up the ladder that led to the basement. 

"Yeah," Spike said sadly, grabbing the box of personal things he wanted to take to the motel.

"You could as well just leave the stuff here until you find an apartment. I don't mind," the demon offered generous as he was.

"Thanks, but this is officially your crypt now, don't wanna leave my things lying around here."

"Okay," Clem nodded and munched another of his wings, offering Spike the bucket and motioning him to take one too.

"Thanks," the blond ex-vampire said and took a hot wing.

"So how's the job thing going?"

Spike shrugged and slumped down in the armchair. "Still waiting for confirmation. It's either this bar job at the bronze or shop assistant in the pet store," he said frowning.

"Pet store? You think you…"

"No, no stealing of kittens, forget it mate," he quickly replied. "Although I really hope I don't get that job. Can you imagine me working in a pet store?"

"Why did you apply for it in the first place?"

"Well, there was this sign reading 'Help Wanted', and I really need a job. With the whole mortal thing going on now I can't continue existing like I used to, gotta make it all good and proper."

"Sounds like a plan," Clem said, mouthful of chicken wings.

"Speaking of mortal needs, I'm really tired," Spike yawned, "and hungry. Can I have another wing?"

"Sure, take as many as you want," Clem answered warmly and Spike took two more Spicy Buffalo Wings. He'd already liked them as a vampire and now loved them even more. _Some things never change_, he thought. 

After getting up from the armchair Spike picked up the box with his belongings and started his way out.

"I didn't exaggerate, did I?" Clem asked and Spike turned a bit to look over his shoulder.

"'Bout what?"

"Well, about everything being kinda hard for you now," the demon replied.

Spike sighed faintly and closed his eyes for a moment.

"No, you didn't, but I'll get along, no worries. I'm not going to turn into a poncy brooding poofter like Angel."

Clem smiled. "Not that I know that Angel guy, but I'm glad to hear you're gonna be alright. You know, a friend of my cousin turned human a couple of years ago, and things were pretty tough for him, he started drinking and all that. Sure, he's only been a harmless Foldrach demon, but the change was hard enough. He's never been the same since then."

Spike laughed bitterly. "You're telling me."

He just wanted to leave for the door really this time as Clem started to speak again.

"And about the Slayer, Spike, I wouldn't wait my life for her to realise what she's feeling, if she's feeling something. See it from this side; you're a regular human now and quite good looking although you don't have the nice floppy ears I have. You'll find someone."

"Yeah, I guess," he replied faintly and finally managed to leave his old home and walk back to the motel.

Clem shook his head slightly and sat down in _his _armchair, switching on _his_ TV and putting his feet on _his_ coffee table. He grabbed another wing and munched it happily while watching some soap operas. 

In the distance stood the beast and watched as the former vampire walked through the cemetery. Its eyes sparkled red, and deep down in its throat formed a grumble, low at first but getting louder. The beast opened its jaws and exposed its razor sharp fangs. As sharp as his teeth was the howl that escaped its mouth, being released into the hot night and cutting through the air like a blade. The growl changed into a high-pitched shriek, sharp and vicious, and the beast laughed as its claws dug deep into the ground. The laughter stopped and was replaced by a low and inhuman voice.

"The gift you received will soon be mine," it growled faintly. Its mighty feet pressed into the soil as it leaped into the air, silently and lithesome like panther. The beast was gone.


End file.
